Snow

The weather has certainly kept us on our toes this week! I am incredibly grateful to all the staff, pupils, and parents for their resilience and commitment in ensuring everything ran as smoothly as possible. Special thanks to Miss Donati for the significant amount of rescheduling involved in keeping tutor lessons on track, and to both staff and pupils for adapting to online learning so efficiently - a real team effort!

Wind Come and Play

A big well done to all our guests who braved the snow to join us from across Aberdeenshire for our Wind “Come and Play” event. It was a fantastic opportunity to welcome new young musicians and their parents to ACMS, culminating in a short concert where parents got a glimpse of how we work.

A huge thank you to Mr Gault for leading a brilliant rehearsal and to Mrs Taylor for her work with our flute and recorder players.

Brass Come and Play

Even with the snow causing its fair share of chaos, the turnout for our Brass “Come and Play” event was fantastic! We welcomed some very enthusiastic young brass players and their parents and ended the evening with another concert.

During the rehearsals, we broke out into sectional groups, which gave our ACMS pupils the opportunity to take on leadership roles, while our guests worked within their own small ensembles. It was a valuable and fun experience for all involved.

Thank you also to our vocal ensemble, who used the concert to run through one of their fiendishly difficult March concert pieces—Bravi tutti!

Specialist Weekend 5

A huge thank you to all our pupils for their dedication and focus during this specialist weekend. We made significant progress on the March concert repertoire, with much of it now mapped out and rehearsed.

Special thanks to Mr Maunder for his infectious enthusiasm and to Mr Bone and Dr Milne, for some fantastic work with their ensembles.

St Andrew's Cathedral Recital

Saturday saw an ACMS first: our S1s (affectionately nicknamed “Swans”) performed in their debut recital!

It was impossible not to feel an overwhelming sense of pride as each pupil confidently took to the stage, announced their piece, performed with poise, and thanked their accompanist and audience with grace. A wonderful milestone—well done, Swans!

Cowdray Hall Recital

Wishing all the very best of luck to our S6 pupils, who will be performing at Cowdray Hall as part of their recital series on Thursday, 16th January. The concert is free to attend, so if you’re in the area, please do pop along to support them!

2025 Technical Assessments

Finally, good luck to our S1–S3 pupils who have their ACMS technical assessments coming up. These short assessments reflect the hard work each pupil puts into their daily technical exercises, including scales, arpeggios, and more—keep up the great work!

Onward!

Here’s to another fantastic week at ACMS, filled with music, growth, and the occasional battle with the weather! Stay warm and keep practising!